For instances where a faculty/staff want a family member to fly with him/her to their destination and want said family member to be on the same record locator, we advise the faculty/staff to purchase their ticket and their family member's ticket directly from the airline. Then the faculty/staff can seek reimbursement for the cost of his/her ticket after the trip is completed.

With regards to hotel reservations, if the rate of the room does not change based on the number of occupants (i.e., it would be the same price if it was only the faculty/staff staying in the room), then the faculty/staff can use his/her travel card to pay for the room. If the price is higher, for more than one occupant, then we address it with the faculty/staff person when he/she submits their travel request in our travel and expense management software.

We are currently implementing a new TMC and this was one of the issues we wanted to address. We will be advising our travelers to contact the TMC directly for booking to ensure they are on the same record locator. The employee will be able to pay for their ticket on their T&E Card or our airfare ghost card, but the companion will be paid on a personal card. The TMC will also code the tickets in a way that only reflects the employee's ticket on our spend reporting. This requires some manual work by the agents but we felt it was the most beneficial process to our travelers.

Thanks! I think that is going to be the process we follow also.